Browsing by Author "Heffner, A"

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    Frequency and significance of post-intubation hypotension during emergency airway management
    (2010-03) Heffner, A; Swords, D; Kline, Jeffrey A.; Jones, Alan E
    Introduction Arterial hypotension is known to follow emergency intubation but the significance of this event is poorly described. We aimed to measure the incidence of post-intubation hypotension (PIH) following emergency intubation and determine its association with in- hospital mortality. Methods A retrospective cohort study of endotracheal intubations performed in a large, urban emergency department over a 1-year period. Patients were included if they were >17 years old and had systolic blood pressure (SBP) >90 mmHg for 30 consecutive minutes prior to intubation. Patients were analyzed in two groups: those with PIH defined by SBP <90 mmHg within 60 minutes of intubation, and those with no PIH. The primary outcome was hospital mortality. Results Emergency intubation was performed on 465 patients, of which 336 met inclusion criteria and were analyzed. The median patient age was 49 years, 59% of patients presented with nontraumatic illness and 92% underwent induction with etomidate. PIH occurred in 76/336 (23%) of patients. The median time to first PIH was 11 minutes (IQR 2 to 27). Intubation for acute respiratory failure was the only independent predictor of PIH (OR = 2.1, 95% CI = 1.1 to 4.0). Patients with PIH had significantly higher in-hospital mortality (33% vs. 21%; 95% CI for 12% difference = 1 to 23%) and longer mean ICU length of stay (9.7 vs. 5.9 days, P <0.01) and hospital length of stay (17.0 vs. 11.4 days, P <0.01). Multivariate logistic regression analysis confirmed PIH as an independent predictor of hospital mortality (OR = 1.9, 95% CI = 1.1 to 3.6). Conclusions PIH occurs in nearly one-quarter of normotensive patients undergoing emergency intubation. Intubation for acute respiratory failure is an independent predictor of PIH. PIH is associated with a significantly higher in-hospital mortality and longer ICU and hospital lengths of stay.
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    Whole blood lactate kinetics in patients undergoing quantitative resuscitation for septic shock
    (2011-03) Puskarich, Michael A; Trzeciak, Stephen; Shapiro, Nathan I; Heffner, A; Kline, Jeffrey A.; Jones, Alan E
    Introduction We sought to compare the association of whole blood lactate kinetics with survival in patients with septic shock undergoing early quantitative resuscitation. Methods Preplanned analysis of a multicenter emergency department (ED)-based randomized control trial of early sepsis resuscitation targeting three physiological variables: central venous pressure, mean arterial pressure, and either central venous oxygen saturation or lactate clearance. Inclusion criteria: suspected infection, two or more systemic inflammatory response syndrome criteria, and either SBP <90 mmHg after a fluid bolus or lactate >4 mmol/l. All patients had a lactate measured initially and subsequently at two hours. Normalization of lactate was defined as a lactate decline to <2.0 mmol/l in a patient with an initial lactate ≥2.0. Absolute lactate clearance (initial – delayed value), and relative ((absolute clearance) / (initial value) x 100) were calculated if the initial lactate was ≥2.0. The primary outcome was in-hospital survival. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed and the area under the curve (AUC) was calculated. Differences in proportions of survival between the two groups at different lactate cutoffs were analyzed using 95% confidence intervals and Fisher exact tests. Results Of 272 included patients, median initial lactate was 3.1 mmol/l (IQR 1.7, 5.8), and median absolute and relative lactate clearance were 1 mmol/l (IQR 0.3, 2.5) and 37% (IQR 14, 57). An initial lactate >2.0 mmol/l was seen in 187/272 (69%), and 68/187 (36%) patients normalized their lactate. Overall mortality was 19.7%. AUCs for initial lactate, relative lactate clearance, and absolute lactate clearance were 0.70, 0.69, and 0.58, respectively. Lactate normalization best predicted survival (OR = 6.1, 95% CI = 2.2 to 21), followed by lactate clearance of 50% (OR = 4.3, 95% CI = 1.8 to 10.3), initial lactate of <2 mmol/l (OR = 3.4, 95% CI = 1.5 to 7.8), and initial lactate <4 mmol/l (OR = 2.3, 95% CI = 1.3 to 4.3), with lactate clearance of 10% not reaching significance (OR = 2.3, 95% CI = 0.96 to 5.6). Conclusions In ED sepsis patients undergoing early quantitative resuscitation, normalization of serum lactate during resuscitation was more strongly associated with survival than any absolute value or absolute/ relative change in lactate. Further studies should address whether strategies targeting lactate normalization leads to improved outcomes.